Maldivian Democratic Party

The Maldivian Democratic Party (ދިވެހި ރައްޔިތުންގެ ޑިމޮކްރެޓިކް ޕާޓީ, Dhivehi Rayyithunge Demokretik Paati; MDP) is the first political party formed in the Republic of Maldives with a total membership of 51,516 individuals as of 25 April 2024.

The party is supportive of the promotion of human rights and democracy in the Maldives. It won the first ever multi-party elections in the Maldives with the support from all the other political parties in the 2008 elections against then president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

History
There had not been political parties in the Maldives since 1952. The MDP initially submitted its registration on 24 February 2001. In 2001, the party's first president was Qasim Ibrahim. Although the Maldivian Constitution allows political parties to operate, the MDP's application was rebuffed. After the people fighting for their rights on the street and the death of Evan Naseem, MDP declared its existence in exile from Sri Lanka on 10 November 2003. Initially, it was formed by a group of 42 people, which included members of parliament, a former cabinet minister and leading businessmen. Members on its first general council were elected on 13 February 2004. Although the MDP was not recognized by the Maldivian government, it began operating in Maldives on 30 April 2005.

On 2 June 2005, the members of the People's Majlis unanimously voted to legally recognize political parties. The MDP subsequently submitted its registration on 26 June 2005, becoming the first political party to be registered in the Second Republic of Maldives.

Throughout 2006, the opposition faced restrictions on freedom of assembly, and the government continued to arrest opposition activists. In March 2006, the government introduced a "Roadmap for Reform" and subsequently introduced several bills in parliament. In August 2007, voters decided via referendum that the Maldives' new constitution should provide for a presidential system of government (vice parliamentary). The special Majlis completed its work and the new constitution took effect in August 2008.

In accordance with the new constitution ratified by then-President Gayoom on 7 August 2008, the first round of presidential elections was held on 10 October 2008. Due to no single candidate receiving 50% of the vote, a second round was held on 29 October between President Gayoom and Mohamed Nasheed. Nasheed won with 54% of the vote.

At the first multi-party parliamentary elections in Maldives, on 9 May 2009, the MDP won 26 out of the 77 seats in the parliament, netting the second-most seats. However, the MDP gained the most votes, with a total of 35.3% (50,562 votes) which is a 10.39% increase from the first round of 2008 presidential elections when the MDP was allied with other parties. From the elections, Gayoom's DRP gained 27.5% of the votes (39,399 votes) which is a 12.5% decrease from the first round of the 2008 presidential elections. In November 2013 elections ex-President Mohamed of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) narrowly lost and Abdulla Yameen of PPM was elected as new president of Maldives. In the 2018 presidential elections, the MDP candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih defeated incumbent President Abdulla Yameen, and was sworn in as president on November 17, 2018. He promised to fight against widespread corruption and investigate the human rights abuses of the previous regime. In the April 2019 parliamentary election, the party won a landslide victory, and won 65 of 87 seats of the parliament. This was the first time a single party was able to get such a high number of seats in the parliament in Maldivian history.

Post-2018 election
In June 2022, former President and Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Nasheed announced that he would be contesting against the incumbent President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in the Maldivian Democratic Party's primary election amid a growing political rift between the two. The rift originally started with a disagreement between the two on changing the Maldives' presidential system of governance to a parliamentary system, with Nasheed preferring the latter. Nasheed also accused the President of enacting policies contrary to the founding principles and ideology of the party, occasionally voting against bills sent by the MDP government in parliament. He also alleged that the President had removed more than 39,000 of the original party members from the membership register, stating that they were less likely to vote for him and potentially twist the primary election in the President's favor. The results revealed that President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih won the primary election with 61.10% of the vote.

On 17 May 2023, 12 members of Maldivian Democratic Party left the and formed a new party called The Democrats. The twelve members defected from the MDP after the warnings of expulsions of four MDP MPs in their faction from the party as well as the expulsion of Central Henveiru MP Ali Azim (who was also a Nasheed loyalist). The faction on several occasions violated the party's whip line and launched a no-confidence motion against multiple government ministers in Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's cabinet.

On 21 June 2023, the party's leader and the faction's leader Mohamed Nasheed quit after 18 years of being a member of the party and joined the newly created Democrats.

The Democrats had announced that they would contest in the 2023 Presidential election in September. But the party came third place with 7% of the vote, making them ineligible to run in the second round.

In the first round of the 2023 elections, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih received 39% of the votes to the PNC/PPM candidate Mohamed Muizzu's 46%. In the second round, held on 30 September 2023, Mohamed Muizzu won the second-round runoff of the Maldives presidential election, beating incumbent president, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, with 54% of the vote to his 45%. Some attribute this loss to The Democrats and others to dissatisfaction with Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's presidency.

On 29 December 2023, several members of the MDP defected to PNC.

In the 2024 Maldivian parliamentary election, the party was wiped out in an landslide defeat, losing 56 seats and winning just 9.